Author: Boria Majumdar

The exhibition of sporting artefacts and chess photographs will be the added attractions at the Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 on March 7 and 8, 2024 in Kolkata. Sport lends itself to great storytelling. And every sporting artefact of significance has a story to it. Take Abhinav Bindra’s Beijing gold medal gloves for example. It ended a wait that lasted almost 100 years. The story of the final, the tension and finally the story of achievement. The signed jersey from the Indian hockey team that made the podium in Tokyo. Saurav Ghosal’s Hangzhou Asian Games team gold medal winning jersey. Vishwanathan Anand’s…

Administration is a thankless job. And if you are in a position for well over 13 years, there is a certain kind of boredom associated with it. You become tired and jaded, and a new beginning is always the best option. For Elena Norman and Hockey India (HI), the parting of ways isn’t bad. She will seek new pastures and try to reinvent the wheel, while the sport will now need to find a new CEO who will ensure that the professionalism associated with the federation continues. Norman, like everyone else, isn’t perfect. Many called her attitude dictatorial, and employees…

World champions Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar, Manasi Joshi, Sumit Antil and Yogesh Kathuniya, the headline presence at Paris 2024 – Comité d’organisation des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024 – will star at the Trailblazers Conclave on March 7 and 8, 2024 in Kolkata. And this offers a perspective. When you are fighting for newsprint against cricket, you always have the risk of ending up second best. And when it is an intense Test match in Ranchi that could lead to an Indian series win, it is more so. Trailblazers 2.0: Celebrating the Unparalleled Journeys of Every Athlete…

It was a conversation with Rohit Sharma that left a lasting impression on me. India had won the famous Gabba Test (January 2021) and Rohit, like everyone else, was in a very happy frame of mind. “In team sport, it is always about wins like this,” he told me. “Individual milestones, while they look good on the scoreboard, don’t really matter unless the team wins. Even if you score a 30 and make your team win, it is way more important than scoring a 100.” As Dhruv Jurel hit the winning runs in Ranchi, my thoughts went back to this…

India had fought back wonderfully well with Dhruv Jurel playing a masterclass. Despite his brilliance, England still had a 46-run lead. With the pitch deteriorating and balls turning and keeping low, that lead was a handy one. India needed early wickets to stay in the contest. Come in, Ravi Ashwin. Against an opening pair that has been aggressive all through the series, Ashwin needed to stay patient. Back his strengths and absorb the early pressure. Ben Duckett hit two early boundaries and the intent was clear. England wanted to counterattack and extend the lead as quickly as possible. A good…

India is currently a land of sports leagues. Almost every sport has one to its name. But the interesting thing is that very few work. Or rather, very few are sustainable and have commercial traction. While the IPL is the mother of all leagues and is hugely successful, the surprise entrant at number two is the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), which, may I say, has consistently held its own over a decade of its existence. With yet another season about to reach the home stretch, it is clearly a story worth documenting. Kabaddi has forever been a sport with deep…

In a competitive sports market, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is up against with the Ranchi Test match for newsprint. With India 2-1 ahead and after an intense first day’s action, you needed something spectacular from the inaugural WPL encounter to upstage the Test match. And with Sajana Sajeevan, you got exactly that. With five needed off the last ball, and an uncapped Indian batter against a seasoned pro in Alice Capsey. What were the chances that she would hit it for a six? Maybe one in hundred? And yet, that was what she did. In doing so, she created…

All was going well for England at the end of the first Test. From the jaws of defeat, they had managed to snatch an incredible victory, and all of it was ascribed to Bazball. The truth was that India played badly. The target of 230 was chaseable, and it was more a case of India losing the match than England winning it. But in sport, it is winner takes all. And all of a sudden, the England team could do no wrong. Now, the picture is radically different. Against a depleted India, missing five of their key players, England had…

Rishabh Pant is all set for an IPL return. While he may not keep wicket just yet, despite posting a video of him getting ready behind the stumps, he is expected to bat and captain the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. This, may I say, is the best news for Indian cricket. No Indian keeper, and I say this keeping even the legendary MS Dhoni in mind, has had the kind of impact Pant had in Test cricket. Pant is a once-in-a-generation cricketer. When you read the team sheet and you see Rishabh Pant at No. 7, there is a…

The piece starts with an announcement: Sania Mirza joins the list of stellar speakers at the Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 presented by Tata Steel, on March 7-8 at ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata. She was much like Aamir Khan’s character in Three Idiots. A once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon who came as a breath of fresh air for Indian tennis. And that’s what begs the question, how did Sania happen? What made Sania ‘The Sania’? How could a middle-class family from Hyderabad with no background in elite sport produce a champion like her? What’s the backstory? Here’s Sania. “Like I have alluded to in…